Given before new · end-weight · end-focus · keeping the topic as the subject
Grammar for the reader
Order information so it is easy to follow
By C1 you have the structures — passive, cleft sentences, extraposition. At C2 you choose between them so each sentence starts with what the reader knows and ends with what is new or important.
Given before new
Old information first, new information last
An expert in renewable energy from Berlin arrived. The conference begins tomorrow.
Awkward: new, heavy information first.
The conference begins tomorrow. Among the speakers is an expert in renewable energy from Berlin.
Better: the known topic first, the new person last.
End-weight
Long, heavy parts go at the end
That she had won the lottery was a shock.
Heavy subject.
It was a shock that she had won the lottery.
it-extraposition moves the heavy clause to the end.
There remains one serious problem.
there + verb also delays the subject.
End-focus
The most important item last
Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize. → The Nobel Prize was won by Marie Curie.
Passive to put the person in focus.
Cleft sentences (C1) do the same job: It was Marie Curie who…
Topic chaining
Keep the topic as the subject
The museum opened in 1990. It houses 300 paintings, and it was extended in 2010.
Same subject → easy to follow.
The museum opened in 1990. 300 paintings are in it. Someone extended it in 2010.
Changing subject every sentence → hard to follow.
Use the passive or a different verb to keep the same subject.
Common mistakes
Where learners go wrong most often
A long-awaited and controversial report was released yesterday.
→
Yesterday saw the release of a long-awaited and controversial report.
heavy subject → move it to the end
That she had won was surprising to everyone.
→
It was surprising to everyone that she had won.
it-extraposition
The bridge opened in 1932. Engineers repaired it in 1990.
→
The bridge opened in 1932 and was repaired in 1990.
keep the topic as subject
There is remaining one problem.
→
There remains one problem.
there + verb
Your turn
Answer out loud — full sentences
Rearrange information.
1
Describe your town in four sentences keeping the town as the subject.
2
Rewrite with it-extraposition: That nobody noticed is strange.
3
Put a famous name in end-focus using the passive.
4
Begin a paragraph with what the reader knows; end it with the surprise.